CHAPTER 57 - TREE-MENDOUS EFFORT UNDERWAY TO MAKE THE WORLD GREENER
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We waited three days for the seeds in the greenhouse to sprout. Then we placed the seedlings in plant pots. It took the seedlings five days to grow into sprouts big enough to replant into the soil in the middle of the greenhouse. Then they needed ten days to become saplings that were ready to be planted outside the greenhouse. Of course, we planted new seeds every day and took care of them.
For trees, the progression went from seed to sprout to seedling to sapling to young tree to mature tree. Though the seedlings and sprouts grew faster in the greenhouse, saplings did not, and so it was better to plant them outside.
Once we had the hang of how much energy we used planting seeds, placing the sprouts in plant pots, replanting seedlings into the greenhouse's ground when they grew big enough, and watering everything in the greenhouse, I estimated that we would be able to produce ten to fifteen trees a day if we used up all our energy.
However, we wouldn’t plant or replant the trees in the greenhouse during the harvest and planting seasons because we would need to save our energy for the crops. Also, we needed to do some hunting, foraging, and fishing to provide for our daily food needs.
Therefore, I expect we would be able to prepare only around three hundred fertilizer trees during the autumn.
“Why are there so many different trees? Shouldn’t we grow the best one only?” asked Mo.
I got the impression that if she played video games, she was the type of player who would definitely min-max.
“That’s a good point. I’m glad you asked that question.” I smiled. “Wow, did I sound like a wise teacher just then?”
No one said anything.
Awkward!
“Ahem. Anyway, moving on… No. It's a very bad idea to plant just one type of tree because if a pest or disease came along, it would devastate the entire area if there was only one type of tree in it.” I waved a hand at the Shadow Locust, Dreamweaver Mimosa, Elderwood, Rosebud, Autumn Starfruit, Onyx Coffee Tree, Golden Chainwood, Arcane Acacia, Midnight Mesquite, Autumnal Ambrosia, Skythorn, and Dragon's Eye trees. “This way we can guard against that.”
“But is there a tree that’s the best one?” asked Lari.
“I suppose the best one would be whichever tree can thrive in the place where we plant it. We’ll find out when we grow all of these varieties,” I said.
“I bet it will be the Elderwood. Look at these dark branches and white leaves. Don’t they look really awesome?” Lari caressed an Elderwood sapling.
“The System says these are called ‘Golden Chainwood,’ but this looks like a regular sprout.” Kharli lifted a seedling tray and peered at the tender green seedlings growing there. “I hope it really grows up to be golden.”
Mo didn’t say anything, but she knelt down in front of the pots where the Rosebud sprouts were.
“I just want all of them to grow nicely, so we can plant a lot of trees in the wasteland. My dream is to create a forest there,” I said.
“It’s just too bad that the farming exp they give is so low,” said Lari. “And why aren’t you getting paid for this, Teacher?”
“I told you before, I’m getting paid in tax credits.” My apprentices were quite young and hadn’t quite grasped how income and taxes worked yet, so it was hard for them to understand the concept of being paid in something they couldn’t hold in their hands. “Besides, we're all getting a lot more land to farm.”
“If all you want is more land to farm, I’m sure Prince Baiyu would give you more forest land,” said Kharli.
“Oh ye of little faith. You’ll see, it’ll be great!”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
And it would. Players always got a lovely paradisiacal land at the end of the [Greening the Desert] quest.
***
Three weeks later, the greenhouse was already full, and I had to place the biggest saplings in my inventory to make way for new ones.
The crops were growing well, especially the Three Sisters plot where we had planted corn, squash, and beans. I had added a Fourth Sister, sunflowers, to attract pollinators.
The lettuces, arugula, radicchio, spinach, kale, Swiss chard, cilantro, parsley, rosemary, oregano, sage, thyme, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, ube, parsnips, carrots, turnips, rutabagas, celeries, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, zucchini, ginger, horseradish, squash, pumpkins, green beans, peas, edamame, snow peas, cauliflowers, and broccoli made a lovely sight indeed. I knelt down and touched their leaves and admired the faint but unmistakable glow around them.
Once I was done inspecting the rice fields, I returned to the main house.
Today, I had decided that I was going to procure a key ingredient that was essential to my enjoyment of the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. I was really looking forward to the mooncakes, one of my favorite pastries, and I wanted to make sure I would be able to eat them soon.
“Can you list the ingredients Deming will need for the mooncakes?” I asked Fengying.
She told me that the ingredients for mooncake dough were: flour, honey, and corn oil. We had plenty of those. The lotus seed filling was made with honey, corn oil, and, of course, lotus seeds.
“We have everything we need except for the lotus seeds,” Fengying confirmed.
“What about the salted egg yolks?” I asked.
She gave me a confused look. “What salted egg yolks?”
“Isn’t that also an ingredient?”
“Not that I’ve ever heard. Do you want it added?”
Did I? Actually, my dad and I always gave the salted egg yolks to my mom. Remembering my recently departed parents made me feel sad when I thought about why I didn’t need the egg yolks this year. I didn’t have anyone to give it to.
“Never mind,” I said. “I’ll go to the Lotus Pond later today to gather seeds.”
After lunch, I put on my sturdiest clothes and headed out alone. These days, the kids had discovered what they like to do best, and we often went our separate ways. Mo was out foraging; Lari was hunting; Kharli was fishing.
It was rather fun to go hiking by myself. Since my apprentices weren’t coming along, I was free to act however I wanted, without the pressure of having to be the older, more mature person.
I whistled as I walked, enjoying the crunching of the leaves beneath my sensible black boots. The Lotus Pond was more than an hour away, but I didn’t mind since I managed to forage quite a few berries, mushrooms, nuts, and fruits along the way. Ever since my Foraging level had risen, I was finding more and more good things to eat whenever I went out to the forest.
Munching on delicious berries, and throwing away the seeds, hoping that they would take root and grow more food for me later, I arrived at the Lotus Pond. It was quite a popular place for taking screenshots in Adventure Incarnate, but this was my first time visiting it since I transmigrated into this world, and I was a bit disappointed in the reality.
The pond was a shallow, muddy one, unlike the pretty, sparkling waters of the pond in the game. However, that did make sense. I knew that lotus flowers were a metaphor for enlightenment because of their ability to blossom beautifully unsullied by the muck they grew from, thus it was perfectly logical that the pond was a muddy one. The lotus symbolism was really quite delightful in theory, yet now that I was faced with the prospect of wading into cold sludge, I was less than delighted.
Well, there was no helping it. If I wanted that sweet lotus paste filling for the mooncakes, I had to harvest the seedpods.
I stayed at the edge at first, gently twisting off the seedpods that the System had marked as the ones I should harvest, until I ran out of suitable plants. Then I had to go knee-deep into the water to gather more. When I had filled six baskets, I decided that I might as well harvest a few leaves and roots as well. The System didn’t help when it came to the leaves, so I just picked the ones that looked good to me. I would ask Deming to cook lotus-wrapped sticky rice later.
The lotus roots, technically rhizomes, were much harder to get. I put on full-length rubber gloves and got out a knife. The System helpfully indicated the places where it was best to dig for roots, and I had to reach into the mire to unearth the rhizomes and cut them free of the plants.
Ugh. Of course, a lot of the mud and dirty water splashed onto my clothes, though I was careful not to get too much of it on my face. I deeply regretted not pinning up my hair.
One hour later, I was done. I had gathered an additional three baskets of lotus roots and five baskets of lotus leaves. I was a mess from the neck down, so I discarded the gloves, took out a bucket of clean well water from my inventory, and cleaned myself up as best as I could. The autumn air was quite chilly, and I shivered a little as I toweled myself dry. It was quite a relief when I changed into a new set of clothes.
The last thing I did before leaving was to collect the biggest and most perfect lotus flowers. Most of them were pink, with a few white ones scattered here and there. Right at the center of the pond, I spotted the ultra-rare purple lotus. I would’ve liked to pluck it and give it to Prince Baiyu since it matched the birthmark on his forehead. However, since there was only one, I decided to leave it alone in the hopes that the flower would pollinate and create more seeds that would grow into more purple lotus plants later.
I was already on my way back home when I realized that I should probably have put Mr. Bear on the alert before changing. Oh well, it was probably fine.